Wednesday, July 10, 2024 at 4:31 PM
The Tour de France stage to Le Lioran turned out to be a spectacle between the favourites and gained by Jonas Vingegaard. In a lightning-fast stage by means of the Massif Central, with 4 climbs within the final 50 kilometres, Tadej Pogačar launched a severe assault on the Puy Mary, however Vingegaard managed to shut a spot of greater than 30 seconds. In Le Lioran it got here right down to a sprint-à-deux, which was surprisingly gained by the Dane. Remco Evenepoel got here third and noticed Primož Roglič fall within the ultimate section.
The eleventh stage of the Tour de France to Le Lioran was seen prematurely as an actual escape stage. It was repeatedly up and down, with the Col de Néronne (3.8 km at 9.1%), Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol (5.4 km at 8.1%), Col du Perthus (4.4 km at 7.9% with further bonuses) and the Col de Font de Cère (3.3 km at 5.8%) within the final 50 kilometers. The stage was good for a complete of greater than 4,350 meters of altitude, the place a number of eventualities have been attainable.
Thundering, thundering opening hours
The opening section noticed a sequence of assaults. A number of teams tried to get into the breakaway of the day, however all of those makes an attempt failed. It was hanging that Visma | Lease a Bike made a number of makes an attempt to ship riders into the breakaway, together with Wout van Aert, Bart Lemmen and Christophe Laporte, however UAE Emirates put a cease to that. On this means, there was no main group that actually bought the blessing of the peloton for a very long time.
picture: Cor Vos
Finally, an attacking Richard Carapaz (EF Training-EasyPost) was the instigator of the day’s breakaway. After an earlier try by the Olympic champion failed, an try with Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) was extra profitable. Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R), Ben Healy (EF Training-EasyPost), Oier Lazkano (Movistar) and Oscar Onley (dsm-firmenich PostNL) joined, as did Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), which meant that ten escapees rode forward. They have been solely given house by the peloton after 90 kilometres.
UAE Emirates provides main group little house
Nonetheless, the UAE Emirates troops didn’t let the lead develop past 2.34 minutes. Would it not then turn into a battle of the favorites within the Massif Central? The lead of the leaders was stored round two minutes by Nils Politt and Tim Wellens. The truth that the riders rode greater than 30 (!) minutes forward of the quickest foreseen time schedule, confirmed how exhausting the riders rode and the way powerful the ultimate was going to be.
The main group finally began the Néronne, the primary climb of the ultimate, with lower than a minute to spare, as a result of there was a severe dash within the pack to the foot. This was on the expense of Van Aert, who steered too exhausting right into a bend and fell. The remainder have been simply in a position to keep away from him. On the Néronne, UAE took the initiative, whereas the main group cut up up as a result of a excessive tempo from Lazkano and Healy. Solely Carapaz was in a position to return, however on the primary flanks of Puy Mary the favourites have been already dangerously shut. It was then a matter of ready for an assault.
picture: Cor Vos
Pogacar’s blistering assault on Puy Mary
After work by Pavel Sivakov, Juan Ayuso – who subsequently dropped – and Adam Yates, the favourites had been thinned out to a bunch with Pogacar, João Almeida, Jonas Vingegaard, Wilco Kelderman, Primoz Roglic, Remco Evenepoel, Carlos Rodriguez and Giulio Ciccone. All the remainder had already been dropped on the steep sections, after which the yellow jersey exploded 600 metres from the highest. He instantly created a spot, whereas Roglic and Vingegaard discovered one another and behind them Evenepoel set his personal tempo. That was the highest 4 on the prime, 30 kilometres from the end.
Vingegaard had dropped Roglic and got here excessive shortly behind Pogacar, however on the descent the Slovenian prolonged his result in 12 seconds. Roglic adopted 17 seconds behind and joined his former teammate, whereas Evenepoel was already greater than 30 seconds behind on the descent. The Belgian was joined by Rodriguez, Ciccone, Almeida and Yates. The yellow jersey took all of the dangers on the descent and he additionally slipped away as soon as, however he managed to remain upright. However, Pogacar continued to increase his lead; simply earlier than the Col du Perthus (4.4 km at 7.9%), the Evenepoel group was in a position to be a part of Vingegaard and Roglic.
Vingegaard recovers and closes a spot of 30 seconds
On that Perthus it was Vingegaard who shook the tree within the chase. Evenepoel and Roglič have been in a position to observe at first, however needed to drop out one after the other to the chief of Visma | Lease a Bike, who lowered the hole to Pogačar from 33 seconds to 19 seconds. It grew to become a man-to-man struggle, as a result of behind Evenepoel was in a position to join with Roglič, though that was 50 seconds behind Good-looking. In the meantime, Vingegaard was getting nearer and nearer; simply earlier than the highest of Perthus he joined, after which Pogačar managed to seize 8 bonus seconds with issue. Vingegaard (5 seconds) and Evenepoel (2 seconds) additionally grabbed bonuses.
picture: Cor Vos
On the descent, Pogačar and Vingegaard have been doing effectively, with Evenepoel and Roglič round 35 seconds behind. What was left was the Col de Font de Cère (3.3 km at 5.8%), adopted by a brief descent in direction of Le Lioran. On the broad highway, the established order between the 2 duos on the entrance remained, after which the Font de Cère began. It was not troublesome sufficient to make any actual variations; Vingegaard and Pogačar crossed the highest collectively, adopted 30 seconds later by Evenepoel and Roglič.
Shocking dash victory for Vingegaard in Le Lioran
The descent in direction of the end was slim, technical and moist in some locations. This brought about a fall for Roglič, who was put below strain by Evenepoel and misplaced time. Within the meantime, Vingegaard and Pogačar began to battle for the stage win. It was an uphill dash with two. Vingegaard made it a protracted dash, after which Pogačar got here alongside and compelled him to the restrict. Vingegaard had an additional soar in retailer and surprisingly managed to win the stage, which additionally gave him further bonus seconds on the end line.
Remco Evenepoel restricted the injury and crossed the end line 25 seconds after Vingegaard. The fallen Roglič adopted 55 seconds later, however was nonetheless put in the identical time as Evenepoel as a result of 3 kilometer rule. The battle for fifth place adopted nearly two minutes later, with a bunch with Ciccone, Almeida, Adam Yates and Landa. Carlos Rodriguez adopted shortly behind.
picture: Cor Vos
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